Deuteronomy 32:10
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. 9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people, Jacob is his special possession. 10 The Lord found him in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. He continually guarded him and taught him; he continually protected him like the pupil of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, so the Lord spread out his wings and took him, he lifted him up on his pinions. 12 The Lord alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.
Psalm 17:8
6 I call to you because you will answer me, O God. Listen to me! Hear what I say! 7 Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds, you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies. 8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings. 9 Protect me from the wicked men who attack me, my enemies who crowd around me for the kill. 10 They are calloused; they speak arrogantly.
Notes and References
"... The third stanza consists of a renewed appeal, which builds in a staircase fashion upon the initial appeal — at first picking up the earlier appeal to be heard and then sharpening the appeal by asking for deeds of hesed. These acts of hesed that the psalmist requests are the paradigmatic actions of God, the gracious actions that only God can do and that reveal God’s faithful character. These acts include such things as rescue from crisis and healing of disease — as the psalmist expands here, you rescue those seeking shelter from those who rebel against your right hand. In the nation’s history, the exodus was the supreme act of hesed. In essence, the psalmist is begging God to be God — to be faithful, to show grace in deeds of mercy. The second section of appeal culminates with two elegant metaphorical petitions — Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings. In Deuteronomy 32:10-11, the nation of Israel is referred to “as the apple of God’s eye” and God is described as protecting Israel, as an eagle who “hovers over its young”. This parallel is striking. It shows that in this psalm of individual prayer, the supplicant is begging God to show an individual the same gracious attention as God has shown the nation. As Goldingay sums it up, the poet “asks that Israel’s story become the suppliant’s story, asks for a personal exodus deliverance as someone who relies on YHWH.” The phrase apple of your eye (see also Proverbs 7:2) indicates one who is specially treasured and cared for. In stanza 2, the psalmist had asserted, I have kept from the paths of the violent. The language is picked up again here, with the request to keep me as the apple ... The image of the shadow of your wings (compare Psalm 36:7; 57:1; 63:7; 91:1) indicates the sort of temporary shelter in which one can find safety in the midst of a sudden, intense crisis ..."
DeClaissé-Walford, Nancy L. The Book of Psalms (pp. 228-229) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014